The Ultimate Healer...

One of the great things about being a teacher in an elementary school is that I get to experience "little kid excitement". This usually happens around Christmas, the end of the school year, on a birthday, or special event. I think it's the best kind of excitement there is, because it is purely positive and hopeful. For the first time in quite a while, I am experiencing some "little kid excitement", and that coupled with a nasty cold I got on Saturday kept me tossing and turning in bed last night.

We leave tomorrow and I cannot wait! This month I have focused on familiarizing myself with the different range of problems in Africa--the AIDS pandemic, lack of clean water, Malaria, the effects of war on the children of Africa, prostitution and the role of women in Africa (and I'm sure I've only scraped the surface)...while I am astonished and overwhelmed at what is going on, I have been greatly encouraged by the number of people I have come across who are trying to make a difference.

Knowing I'll be teaching and working with children who have lost loved ones to the AIDS epidemic in Tanzania, the statistics I've come across have become more and more impacting...and yet, they are still statistics. I cannot imagine what it will be like to put names, faces, and places to these statistics. While I have been inspired to learn as much as I can on educating the people about AIDS, as I tossed and turned last night, I was gently reminded of something.

In the Bible, Christ says, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10). Here in the US we can mistakingly equate a "full life" with wealth and material possessions. Perhaps in Africa a "full life" can be equated with one's age-they were lucky enough to steer clear of AIDS or drinking dirty water, or were able to escape from their country, etc while others were not so lucky. Perhaps. This is not the full life Christ is talking about, though. I can help educate the children and people of Tanzania in many ways, but as morbid as it sounds, death is inevitable regardless of one's age.

Yes, death is inevitable, but there is hope. Christ also says "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). Eternal life! Christ is the Ultimate Healer. He brings full, eternal life. While I will do all I can to educate these people in hopes of improving their quality and length of life, I also hope and pray that I can extend to them eternal life with the Ultimate Healer. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

I'll write again once in Africa, but for now I will let this "little kid excitement" carry me forward with my packing!